A Treasure Buried Deep
by AlwaysBeWhelmed
Summary: Jim Hawkins is sent away to boarding school after his home burns to the ground. There he meets wonderful people who are just as troubled as he is. Can he build a future and a family from the broken parts in this new place? Treasure Planet/Lilo & Stitch/Brother Bear/Tarzan/Moana (w/ other Disney references) Jim x Nani, Kenai x Moana
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Jim

"Look Jim," Sarah spoke softly as the train began to slow "I know you're not happy about having to finish school here at the Academy, but with the Benbow gone and me working full time at Dunwoody house until we have enough money to rebuild, finding you a place where you can have a roof over your head, three meals a day and a _great_ education is such a blessing…" Sarah looked at Jim for a reaction, but he seemed to be taking no notice at all. He was just staring out the window, watching the world go by. Sarah decided to finish her thought, in the hope that her son might be taking it in.  
"… and for _free_ , no less. Make sure you thank Delbert from me when you see him." She finished.  
Jim grunted his affirmative, and then stood up to collect his bag from the luggage rack above their heads.

Jim did not want to go to Montressor Bay Academy. It was a private boarding school in a shitty fishing town in the middle of nowhere. To be sure, Jim wanted to leave the Benbow (although he was devastated when it burned to the ground), but his dream was to travel the world, not to sit on a train for two hours in order to become a private school arsehole, trapped in a dead-end town with no access to an open road, sea or sky.

Jim Hawkins was 17 years old, and he was what so called 'adults' would describe as 'troubled'. He had lived at his family's inn, the Benbow, his whole life with his mother, Sarah. His father had abandoned them, seemingly without reason, when he was 12, and it was the most devastating moment of his life. He remembered waking up on the morning of his twelfth birthday to see his father walking out the front door, getting in a cab and disappearing forever. His mum had never told him why the bastard had left. Jim was convinced that the man had just decided that his family wasn't worth his time anymore. He had been angry ever since; unendingly furious to the point where he no longer saw a point in an education anymore.

Make no mistake, Jim Hawkins was a smart guy. He had this incredible knack for building things, and since the day his father left, he'd put all his energy into building things that would take him away, far away. To start with, it had been about trying to follow his dad to wherever he had gone, so he could beg him to come back. After a while however, it had become more about a deep longing to get away from it all. He wanted to escape the misery of a home where he was loved, but not seen. Sarah had been on auto-pilot for the last five years. Sure, she cared for Jim deeply, as a mother should, but she no longer had any drive or enthusiasm for anything. She worked, and she talked to customers and she tried to make sure that Jim was doing okay in school (although he had not made that easy for her), but there was no feeling in anything she did anymore. It was like his son of a bitch father had taken her soul with him when he left.

After the Benbow had burned down in an arson attack three weeks ago, Jim thought his mother might finally let him drop out of school and start building his way to some far-off place where he could start anew and figure out his own place in the world, but before he could convince her to let him go, an old family friend, Dr Delbert Doppler had offered to accept Jim into the boarding school he taught at in Montressor Bay for free.

Now, Jim was stepping off a train at Spaceport Station on the outskirts of the town, a faded brown satchel hanging over his shoulder, containing the last few possessions of his that hadn't been consumed by the fire. It was a depressing scene. The sky was a dark grey colour, with clouds so thick and widespread that they blocked the sun. Jim could smell rain in the air, and he was not happy about it. Rain had never really bothered him before, but since the fire, he no longer had a coat to keep him dry. He was wearing the only clothes he owned: a tatty, light brown collarless shirt with the top two buttons missing, baggy grey trousers with a brown leather belt with a faded silver buckle, a pair of heavy, steel toed black boots and his thick leather jacket that had long since lost its shine. These were his work clothes that he wore when he was working on one of his bikes or his solar surfer. They were tatty and dirty, but they were comfortable and he loved them. The prospect of wearing them into a fancy private school however, made him feel out of place even before he had set foot in the fucking building.

The platform was deserted, save for a sharply dressed, stern looking woman with pointed features, yet strangely kind eyes. She stood perfectly straight, with her feet shoulder-width apart and her arms crossed behind her back. Jim suspected she must have been in the military. They used to get quite a few navy types coming through the Benbow for a night before going off to the docks to resume their service, and they always stood with the same posture as this woman. As Jim was sizing up the military woman, Sarah stepped off the train, with the usual expressionless look on her face. Jim sighed and walked over towards the sharply dressed woman.

"You are Mr Hawkins, yes." the woman said, matter-of-factly. This was not a question, but a statement. Jim nodded in response and held out a hand for her to shake.

"I'm Captain Amelia, the deputy headmistress at the Academy," she said as she firmly grasped Jim's hand and shook it briefly "You may address me as Captain or ma'am. Is that clear?" Jim merely rolled his eyes in response. He was already done with this place.

" _Mr Hawkins…_ " the Captain said pointedly.

"Yes ma'am," Jim responded quickly and quietly.

"That'll do," she quipped, with a soft smile on her face which left Jim a little puzzled. "You must be this young man's mother," this was directed at Sarah, who seemed to barely register the remark. "Don't worry Mrs Hawkins, we'll take excellent care of your boy, and have him back to you a fine sailor."

Sarah smiled weakly at this before turning to Jim.

"I think this is where I leave you," she spoke softly, and Jim was shocked to see tears in her eyes "I love you more than you'll ever know, certainly more than I've been able to show you these past few years," her voice quivered as she spoke, and now Jim was starting to feel tears in the corners of his own eyes "I really think that this place will be good for you, Jim, so make the most of it, and when you're done, come home to me. I'm determined to have the Benbow rebuilt and ready for you when you get back."

Sarah Hawkins then hugged her son tight, tighter than she had ever hugged him since his father left. Jim was full of emotion. He couldn't decipher quite how he felt, but he knew for certain that he would melt under the strain of it all if he didn't stop feeling soon.

Suddenly, Captain Amelia cleared her throat and brought Jim back to reality. His mother finally released him from her embrace. The right shoulder of both their jackets had wet patches from the tears. Sarah nodded her gratitude to the Captain and gave Jim one last sad smile, before turning around and making her way back onto the train. Seconds later, the doors had slammed shut and the train had shuddered into life, slowly making its way out of this station, towards the next.

"Quickly now Mr Hawkins," Captain Amelia ordered "If we don't get a move on now, we won't make it back to the Academy before dinner."

Jim nodded and followed Amelia down a short flight of cobbled stairs, out of the station. A cab was waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs to take Jim to his new prison.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Jim

This place really was in the middle of nowhere. Jim had hoped the school might actually have been by the harbour itself, maybe even on the waterfront. At least then, when he was feeling trapped, he might have been able to look out onto the open water and imagine he was out there himself. It was seeming increasingly clear however, that the Academy was a significant distance from the town of Montressor Harbour. In fact, Jim observed as the cab sped along the loose road surface away from civilisation (if you could call it that), it seemed as if the school was buried deep in the woods that lay just beyond the town's border.

"So," Captain Amelia piped up, seemingly out of nowhere "Dr Doppler tells me that you're quite the talented engineer."

She had a habit of doing that; leaving long periods of extended silence, before suddenly filling it with a voice that was astonishingly loud for someone so slight. Jim expected that a booming voice was a fairly necessary trait for a captain in the navy.

"I just like building things," Jim replied, trying not to show how shaken he was by the Captain's sudden, high volume vocalisation.

"Well," the Captain started, more softly and kindly this time "If that's something you want to develop, we'll make sure you have ample opportunity to do so here." She placed a comforting hand on Jim's shoulder. He looked away.

"We're here Captain," the cabbie shouted from the front seat in an accent that Jim could not place.

"Thank you, Mr Turnbuckle," Amelia replied, once again booming, "If you could bring us round to the front entrance, that would be splendid."

The cabbie nodded his assent and the cab began to turn as the road forked to the right. Jim looked out of the window on his left to see, emerging from the thinning line of tall, bushy pine trees, an enormous, grand, redbrick mansion with a spectacularly lofty and viciously pointy spire rising from the middle of the building. The grounds were beautiful, with sprawling fields, bushes cut into immaculate shapes of various wild animals (mostly gorillas), and Jim could just about make out the glint of the reflective surface of what he hoped was a large body of water, coming from the building's far right-hand side. Jim might have been excited, had it not been for the imposing, iron gate that swung shut behind them as the cab slowed to a stop on the gravel driveway. The clank of metal meeting metal was a stark reminder to Jim that he was not here by choice, and that he could not leave.

"I appreciate your hustle, Mr Hawkins," the Captain remarked, "We have arrived with an hour to spare before dinner. You'll have some time to unpack and get a little acclimated to your new home."

That last comment stung a little. The last thing Jim needed was a reminder that he no longer had a home.

Jim's wallowing was interrupted by the sound of hurried, approaching footsteps. He looked up to see a boy of around his own age stumbling breathlessly through a doorway on the other side of the grand, entrance hall that they had just entered.

"Ah, excellent. You're here," Captain Amelia addressed the newcomer, a dishevelled, skinny boy with mousy brown hair. He wore brown, corduroy trousers and a crumpled white shirt with a bright red bow tie, and was currently standing, doubled over and panting heavily.

"Mr Hawkins," the Captain continued once the boy had caught his breath, "This is Mr Milo Thatch."

"Hi," Milo wheezed, clutching his side, "You must be Jim."

"That's me," Jim mumbled darkly. He would have held out a hand to shake, but Milo seemed the nervous type, particularly in front of Captain Amelia.

"I would have b-b-been here sooner," Milo continued to wheeze, "but you arrived a f-f-fair few minutes earlier than I expected. I ran here as soon as I saw Mr Turnbuckle's car come through the front gates."

The Captain rolled her eyes, as if to say that Milo's tardiness was not an uncommon occurrence.

"Mr Thatch will be your guide for your first few days here, Mr Hawkins," Captain Amelia was all business now, "If you have any concerns or grievances, my office is upstairs, but Milo will be your main source of information about the daily goings on at the Academy. He'll show you to your room now."

At this, Amelia walked away, leaving the two boys standing alone in the empty hall. Milo motioned for Jim to follow, and he did.

Nani

"You know Silver, these purps are pretty good," Nani Pelekai remarked as she took a second bite of the purple fruit.

"Aye, they are," John Silver, the school's cook responded, impatiently "And as much as being in your company is a truly great honour, Nani, I'd be grateful if you could find somewhere other than my kitchen counter to rest your bum."

Nani glared at the sarcastic cook and slid off the counter, landing on the floor with a squelch. She had knocked a purp onto the floor.

"On second thoughts," Silver began, "You might want to clear that mess up before your arse finds a new resting place." Silver started to chuckle to himself whilst Nani sighed and picked up the dustpan and brush from the box on the counter.

John Silver was not a subtle man. He was fairly portly and balding, with short, scruffy facial hair. He always wore a red bandana when he was cooking, with a shirt that Nani thought must have been white at some point, but was now a dull grey, and covered in stains. The thing that was truly striking about Silver's appearance, however, was his prosthetic limbs.

Nani had taken to spending a lot of her downtime at the Academy with Silver in the kitchens. She didn't have many friends, and her younger sister, Lilo, didn't demand nearly as much attention when they were at school. One afternoon, while Nani was helping Silver wash up after lunch, he had confided in her that he had lost his right arm, leg, and eye in a boating accident when he was a teenager. He had no money for prosthetics to replace them, but one of the teachers at the Academy (Silver would never say who, and Nani had never given much thought to it) had offered to put up the money in return for Silver coming to work at the school as its cook. The limbs themselves were pretty high tech. They were full of gears and pistons and gyros that gave an oddly industrial edge to Silver's scruffy, sailor aesthetic.

Regardless of who had arranged it, Nani was grateful that Silver had come to work at Montressor Harbour. He was the one member of staff who supported her in her wish to leave the place as soon as she turned 18. Nani and Lilo were orphans. Their parents were killed in a store robbery when Nani was 13. In the four years since, the sisters had spent their time at Montressor Harbour Academy, and their summers at the local girls' home, De Vil House. Nani had been forced to grow up pretty quickly once they arrived at the home. It wasn't a place you went to if you wanted to be looked after. They were provided with beds and food, but no support. No love. Lilo was only seven at the time and needed a mother, so Nani had stepped up. For the last four years, Lilo had been her whole life, and all Nani wanted was to provide her sister with a home in which she would feel genuinely loved. The only person who came even remotely close to Lilo on her list of priorities was her friend Kenai.

Kenai lived at the boys' home, Hades Hall, across the road from De Vil House. Nani met him on her second day there, when she had sat on the front lawn crying after Lilo had refused to let her read her a bed time story. Kenai had seen her whilst walking back to Hades Hall and had gone to sit with her.

" _Christ," the kid with the messy brown hair exclaimed, "You look terrible!"_

" _Thanks," Nani sniffed sarcastically, and glared up at the unwelcomed conversationalist, standing over her._

" _I've not seen you around here before," the boy continued, ignoring her sardonic tone of voice, "I take it you've just got here." She nodded, but didn't say anything._

" _The first few days were the hardest for me," he sat down on the grass next to her as he spoke, "But it does get easier. You've just got to lean on the people around you. I was eight when my parents died, but I had my brothers who looked after me and kept the bullies off my back. You got siblings?"_

" _A little sister, Lilo," Nani whispered through the tears "I'm all she's got now."_

" _And you clearly care about her more than anything," the boy smiled warmly "So she's got a fighting chance of getting through this."_

" _You really think so?"_

" _Absolutely," he grinned, "I'm Kenai by the way. What's your name?"_

 _Kenai held his hand out for her to shake. She looked at him dubiously, but then thought better of the situation. This boy was the first person who had taken the time to sit and talk to her since she arrived at this terrifying place, and who was she to look a gift horse in the mouth?_

" _I'm Nani," she took his hand and shook it, wiping away the tears from her eyes with her other sleeve, "It's nice to meet you Kenai."_

Nani finished clearing up the splattered purp, and returned the dustpan and brush to their proper place. She apologised to Silver for making a mess and for getting in his way, to which he responded with a knowing, and exasperated smile.

There wasn't a great deal of time left before dinner, and if Nani wasn't allowed to spend that time hanging out with Silver, then she was going to find her best friend. Kenai had been distant lately, and she wanted an explanation.

Jim

Jim exhaled heavily. He was desperately trying to refrain from telling Milo to GET ON WITH IT ALREADY. The bespectacled boy had been rambling on about the history of the school for what felt like hours, although when Jim checked his watch (as he had done several times in the last couple of minutes), only 15 minutes had passed.

"… and this is your room, Jim," Milo trailed off as Jim's attention was finally caught, "I told your room mate to be here around about now, so you two could meet before dinner." Jim nodded and reached out for the handle.

He pushed the door open slowly, to be greeted by… an empty room.

"Oh," Milo sounded both surprised and disappointed, "I thought he would be here."

"I guess you thought wrong," Jim responded, his frustration at his increasingly disappointing situation starting to show.

"Please don't pre-judge Kenai for this," Milo started, a little solemnly, "He's a great guy, but he's been rather unpredictable as of late."

Jim softened a little. He could relate to that. He suspected something had happened recently to this guy, Kenai. After his father left, everyone who had been close to him started describing Jim in the same way that Milo was now describing Kenai. Maybe he wouldn't be a complete outsider here.

The room itself was nice enough. You could tell which side was his and which was Kenai's, as the right-hand side of the room was pristine and completely untouched. The left-hand side, on the other hand, was a mess. There were papers and food wrappers strewn all over the desk, piles of dirty clothes on the chair and the bed was unmade and covered with books about various kinds of animal.

Jim crossed the threshold and slid his bag from his shoulder. It landed on the bead with a creak, and Jim followed suit. The bed was comfortable enough, but it didn't feel right. He thought back to his room at the Benbow and sighed. This was his reality now, and he ought to make the most of it.

Milo, meanwhile, was losing it. He was pacing in and out of the doorway muttering to himself.

"This is highly irregular… Kenai was supposed to be here… I have homework… No time to play tour guide… Why God why?!"

Nani

Kenai's dorm was in the North tower of the Academy, which meant stairs – lots of stairs. Nani wasn't unfit, but anyone would be at least winded after running up five flights of stairs, and she wasn't keen on walking anywhere if she could get to her destination faster by another method. Those select few who knew Nani well understood that this wasn't impatience, but rather an intense determination. She was driven by a sense of responsibility to do right by Lilo, and often that meant that Nani's schedule was incredibly busy. She wanted as many accolades and as much experience with the working world as she could get while she was still at school. In her mind, any dreams she might once have had, before her parents passed, for the future, seemed unbelievably selfish. She couldn't go away travelling or to university and leave her sister to the mercies of relentlessly conceited secondary school kids and the less than caring staff at De Vil House. It was her duty to get Lilo out of there, and that meant getting a decent paying job as soon as humanly possible, and while she wasn't allowed to drop out of school early (De Vil House rules), that didn't mean she couldn't hustle hard and start getting in experience early. This meant she was running around a lot, doing odd jobs for Silver, the cleaning staff and the odd teacher or two between classes.

On rare occasions like these, when she actually had some time for herself, she would go in search of Kenai. If Nani was honest with herself, she might admit that Kenai was the only person she knew who could convince her to relax at all. The summer holidays had been particularly trying for Nani because Kenai hadn't been around to convince her to take a break from her job at a local café. She had tried calling and texting, even going so far as to knock on the door at the terrifying Hades House to see if he was there, but she was unsuccessful on all counts. Upon her arrival at the Academy for the start of term, she had asked Captain Amelia whether Kenai would be returning to school for their final year.

" _I've not heard from him all summer and I'm really starting to worry," Nani was shaking, both out of concern for her friend, but also because Captain Amelia frightened her a little. Outwardly, she was a rather stern woman._

" _As far as I am aware, Mr. Robbins is arriving today," the Captain answered matter-of-factly, but Nani detected a hint of sadness in her voice. Nani breathed a hesitant sigh of relief, thanked Captain Amelia, and turned to leave._

" _Nani," the Captain called after her, causing her to stop, confused, mid stride – Captain Amelia never used first names, "Kenai has had a rather difficult summer, please be patient with him."_

This had been stuck in Nani's head all day. Something bad had happened to her best friend and he hadn't told her. She was scared for him, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't a little angry. Nani felt abandoned.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Nani rounded the corner to come face to face with the door to Kenai's room. After pausing for a moment to catch her breath, she straightened up and knocked on the door.

"Yeah?" an unfamiliar voice called from inside. Frowning, Nani pushed open the door and was greeted by a frowning boy she did not recognise.

"Who are you?" she asked impatiently. Looking around, it was clear that while Kenai had moved back in, he definitely wasn't there. The unfamiliar boy, dressed in greasy work clothes, was sitting with his legs stretched out on the other, previously unoccupied, bed.

"I should ask you the same question," the boy said coolly, "this is my room after all."

"Ugh," Nani exhaled, dinner was soon, and she didn't have the time to be messed around by this stranger, "I'm looking for my friend Kenai, this is _his_ room after all."

"Hey," the boy threw up his hands defensively, "you and me both. They told me my roommate would be here to tell me how this place works, but the only evidence of his existence is that pile of dirty laundry on his bed."

"You're one to talk," Nani smirked, trying to hide her growing frustration, "your shirt is covered in grease stains." The boy shrugged at this, but Nani thought he looked a little hurt by her remark.

"Anyway," she said, trying put their conversation back on track, "you still haven't told me your name." The boy smirked this time, picking up on her frustration.

"You first."

"Fine, my name is Nani Pelekai, I'm a friend of your absent roommate."

"Heh," the boy chortled, "nice to meet you Nani Pelekai, I'm Jim."

"Do I not get a last name?"

"Do you need it?"

Nani considered this for a moment, "You know," she mused, "I really don't".

Jim heaved himself off the bed - he looked rather tired – and extended a hand for Nani to shake. She took at and quickly shook, before sliding hers away.

"Tell you what," Nani started. She paused for a moment to think before continuing, "if you come with me to look for Kenai, I'll fill you in on the ins and outs of this dump."

"Well that just fills me with confidence," Jim said dryly, "did I not make it clear that it was my first day?"

"Oh, you did," Nani smiled mischievously, "I just didn't want to get your hopes up."

Nani scolded herself internally. This kid was charming in an uneasy kind of way, and there was something about him that intrigued her. The trouble was that she really didn't have the time or the energy to let anyone new into her life, especially if Kenai was struggling. Nani's life was complicated enough, but with the oddly endearing Jim now inconveniently living with her closest (and only) friend, she could feel herself getting sucked into something that she was sure would be a huge drain on her mental faculties.


End file.
